Black Friday electronics picks

As we end our Black Friday picks, we turn our attention to the best of the best in electronics. There are a lot of good deals out there for a number of different items. Here are some additional finds worth checking out.

Tablets are one of the things that seem to be on everyone’s list this holiday season, and there are a large number to choose from. Many will be drawn to the iPad Mini, which starts at $329 for the 16GB model. While we like the iPad very much and it is our first tablet of choice. If your choice is not an iPad, we really like the Nook, and it is our second choice despite the fact that there are so few deals on it. One of the most attractive things about the Nook is that it will take up to a 32GB SDHC card, which boosts the memory for very little money. Its prices range from $199 for the Nook HD with 8GB, to Nook HD+ with 16GB of storage for $269, or the 32GB model for $299. The fact that you can add the extra 32GB of storage yourself is a big plus in our book, but the lack of apps available when compared to the iPad or Android tablet models will surely turn folks away. As for the best of the rest, we like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7” model with 16GB for $179 at Office Depot; and it, too, can be expanded by adding up to 32GB via SDHDC card.

Digital cameras still remain a popular choice, but with the advent of high resolution cameras in today’s cell phones, many are not as interested as they used to be. If you are looking for a good 16 megapixel lower-end model, we suggest the Nikon Coolpix S3200 at Wal-Mart for $69.99. For those who want something closer to a Prosumer model, we recommend the Canon PowerShot SX500 for $249. You can find it at the $249 price at hhgregg, Staples, or BJ’s Wholesale, and for the money it will not disappoint.

While the GPS continues to be one of the most popular offerings each Black Friday, this year we really could only settle on one pick. The Garmin Nuvi 50LM, which is going for $99, is the best as long as you can do without the traffic updates, which most don’t seem to care about. Best Buy, Staples, Radio Shack, and Sears are all offering this model at this steal of a price. We looked at others, and honestly, we just kept coming back to the Nuvi 50LM as our favorite and we think you will like it, too.

Blu-ray players continue to hit rock bottom pricing. At hhgregg, you can get the BD500 for $29.99 after mail-in rebate. This however would not be our pick. Instead, we like the LG Blu-ray player at Wal-Mart for $38 on Door Buster with a 1-hour in-stock guarantee, so you have a pretty good shot at getting it. For those who want a few more features and performance, we like the 3D-enabled LG for $68 that includes streaming from Netflix and Vudu, as well as included wireless ability right out of the box. We also have a lot of love for the Samsung BD-E5400 that is Wi-Fi enabled and, despite its strange looking form factor, it is a solid unit with a nice feature set and Samsung interface.

Cheap DVDs and Blu-rays will be making a big splash again this year. Like last year, both Wal-Mart and Best Buy are the places of choice to seek out the best of the best. For Blu-ray titles, we give the edge to Wal-Mart as they have a good selection and pricing starting from $4 and move up to $15, with several price points in between. Titles feature a large number of recently released titles, so if you can survive the crowds it is worth picking some of them up.

That does it for our picks this year. We hope you enjoy your Black Friday shopping experience, and don’t forget that a lot of these retailers will be kicking things off on Thursday evening with some of the best items being sold then. Not everything is going Black Friday this year.